Reel History Shows What You Know

Hey history fans! My name is Jakob Burrows and, as you know, I don’t know anything about history, but I do know that production on Season 4 is in full swing and until it we’re able to launch it you’ll be able to find additional episodes at patreon.com/reelhistorypodcast where we’ve most recently been putting out some pirate themed podcasts, going over our top 5 pirate women thorughout history and as well as Reel History After Dark where we covertly record in various pubs around Ireland, so to have a pint and some not entirely sober chats about history with us, go to patreon.com/reelhistory

What I’m here to share today is a new project from Shows What You Know, helmed by myself and Jim Scampoli. We’ve done podcasts reviewing television shows for nearly a decade but in the past few years, actors have invaded the podcast scene, re-watching and reviewing their own TV shows. This is something Jim and I have been exploring thorugh investigative podcasting over the past few months and, in short, since our turf has been stepped on, we decided that the only reasonable response was to review these actors and their attempts at creating entertaining podcasts.

We call this The Podcast About the Podcasts About Television and I’m sharing the first episode here with you today – if you enjoy it, subscribe on your podcatcher or choice or go to ShowsWhatYouKnow.com to follow our first season. Enjoy!

** Visit PATREON.COM/REELHISTORYPODCAST for exclusive bonus podcasts between seasons ***

Welcome to the finale of Season 3 of Reel History! In this episode we look back at our past season, answering listener questions and handing out the Mel Gibson Awards to the least historically accurate films. Michael and Jakob also face off in a historical quotes quiz (it’s tense, see image) and we celebrate the completion of this season with a mandatory gâteau.

But besides looking to the past, we also look ahead…

As of TODAY we’re launching a Patreon where you can sign up for 2.50 EUR to get one (1) bonus episode per month. It will be quiet here on the main feed as we start producing season 4 but there will be a consistent stream of extra podcasts and updates available to you via our Patreon. If you decide to sign up, you’ll be helping us buy history books, audio equipment, train tickets and pints, all of which would be much appreciated and which would expedite our production of season 4.

So what do you get out of this? Well, we’re committed to producing the next season as quickly as possible so we won’t put out a plethora of bonus content but we’re committing to releasing one bonus episode per month between seasons. These will be things like:



* Footnotes & Fancies: We explore Footnotes, where we expand on topic touched on in the main show but which we didn’t have time to properly get into, and Fancies, where we give updates on production, answer Patron questions, and get into various fanciful topics.

* Top 5 History: We list out some of the greatest and worst people and achievements in history, answering questions like who were history’s top 5 emperors, pirates, scientists or martyrs?

* Reel History After Dark: Come with us to the pub



We might add additional shows and tweak our Patreon concept based on listener interest, so if you do sign up, don’t hesitate to tell us what you think and what you’d like to hear from us. And, of course, if you’re not interested in the Patreon, just stay on this feed and you’ll have season 4 delivered in 2023! Until then you can hang out with us on Twitter @reel_history (if the platform still exists by the time you read this) and catch up on a whole host of other podcasts from the same crew over at showswhatyouknow.com!

Do you love the smell of napalm in the morning? It’s episode 9 of season 3 of Reel History and much like the Americans we have been bogged down in the dense jungles of Vietnam!

Last episode Michael gave you a whistle-stop tour of Vietnamese history, leading all the way up to the period that saw it step onto the world stage as the latest and deadliest theatre of the developing Cold War! We continue our examination of Coppola’s crazed adaptation of Conrad’s famous novel, its peace brokering and warmongering alike as the violence escalates.

Vietnam has already seen off the French Empire, a French Republic, the Japanese Empire, varying Chinese Empires and a whole host of other thing besides. Ho Chi Minh is well entrenched in the North and as tensions escalate within the country, the Americans get involved. Perhaps expecting this to be like a sequel to the recently ended Korean War, they swiftly find out that this is a country and a war like no other.

But things were not okay at home for the Americans- we dig into the context around why they would get involved in the first place and what this ill-thought-out war would do to the American culture already fanning the flames of social war as great civil rights leaders step forward. Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon all struggle to contend with the escalating carnage in Vietnam.

Has anyone called Henry Kissinger?

Strap yourselves in for Rolling Thunder, it’s Apocalypse Now part 2.

Sources

• ‘The Penguin History of Modern Vietnam’ by Christopher E. Goscha (2017)

• ‘Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975’ by Max Hastings (2018)

• ‘The Trial of Henry Kissinger’ by Christopher Hitchens (2002)

• ‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad (1899)

This ain’t no USO show so hold on to your cavalry hat and jump onboard a Huey for episode 8 of Season 3 of Reel History!

In a new departure, we’re delivering up our first double-barrelled episode in honour of Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam war masterpiece ‘Apocalypse Now’ (1979). There really was was just too much to squeeze into one episode and that’s even before we heard Michael struggle to pronounce the names of Vietnamese emperors 😊.

What started out with an infamously chaotic 3-year production (worthy of an episode in itself), this Oscar winner would blossom into an endlessly quotable critical and financial success! Packed full of memorable characters such as Lt. Colonel ‘Charlie don’t surf’ Kilgore; the chilling plot is loosely based on the anti-imperial novel ‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad. We find ourselves in stifling hot jungle, meandering down river in the unsettling company of veteran assassin Captain Willard (Michael Sheen) as he seeks to ’terminate with extreme prejudice’ the rogue and enigmatic Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). But you knew that already so that’s why we did what we do and looked at the real history behind the film!

Join us for episode 1 of this 2-part special as we use the film as a catalyst to first examine how Vietnams tumultuous history forged the spear that would one day pierce the illusion of invincibility of a cold war superpower. To kick off, we will learn how this plucky country sprang from the Red River Delta to form a civilisation that would one day endure a millennium of Chinese occupation (beginning in 111 BC), only to later gain its independence and repel even the all-conquering Mongol empire in 1288.

We will then take you on a whistle stop tour of the preceding centuries as Dai Viet expanded south to form the modern S shaped Vietnam we recognize today. Fast forward to 1848 and it wouldn’t be long before the 2nd French empire and Napoleon the third cast a covetous eye on this rich and fertile land they imaginatively called Indochina! We’ll cover the gradual French conquest of Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia and the brutal colonial era it sparked. We will then sift through the embers of revolution to discover how Ho Chi Minh and the wider Viet Minh liberation front would triumph over not only a short-lived Japanese occupation but also a resurgent post war France determined to maintain it’s ‘gloire’ and prestige (1st Indochina War 1946- 1954).

Caught your breath? We hope so as all this happened long before anyone in Vietnam had even heard of President JFK, Lyndon B Johnson not to mention Henry Kissinger…. tune in for part 2 next time to learn what happened when they finally did!

Sources

• ‘The Penguin History of Modern Vietnam’ by Christopher E. Goscha (2017)

• ‘Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975’ by Max Hastings (2018)

• ‘The Trial of Henry Kissinger’ by Christopher Hitchens (2002)

• ‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad (1899)

Fáilte go dtí Reel History! We’re finally going local – this week we dive into the wild forests of Irish history with Wolfwalkers, our first Irish feature film and first animated film. Come along on a mythical romp thorugh oppressed Cromwellian Ireland and learn how puritanical Christianity clashed with Irish mythology and tradition!

Wolfwalkers concludes director Tomm Moore’s “Irish Folklore Trilogy”, following his previous films The Secret of Kells (2009) and Song of the Sea (2014), and it was produced by Irish animation company Cartoon Saloon, based in our very own Kilkenny.

We use this fun family film to discuss Oliver Cromwell’s occupation of Ireland, colonization and other fun topics such as genocide. Irish history sure is a blast! We go thorugh the rise and fall of the so-called “Lord Protector”, Oliver Cromwell, and his crusade against Catholisism, and anything vaugely foregin, if we’re being honest.

Let’s go beyond the pale to a land of wolves and legends, and discover the misty mystic origins of the oldest man-made structures in the world, and some of the oldest tales from these here isles.

Yes, this week truly features all sorts of mythical creatures — including a woman!

Sources

“Colonial Werewolves and the Mapping of Postcolonial Ireland” by Catherine E. Karkov

“God’s Executioner: Oliver Cromwell and the Conquest of Ireland” by Micheál Ó Siochrú

“Celtic Mythology” by Philip Freeman

Oh, you want more Vikings? We’ve got more Vikings.

In this third (and final) installment about the History Channel’s drama series Vikings, we’re talking about the main characters and their real-life counterparts… er… if they in fact existed.

Join as we discuss the man, the myth, the legend – Ragnar Lodbrok! Was he a simple farmer from Denmark who had visions of glory or a divine hero, inspired by Odin the all-father to slay dragons, wander to distant lands and marry witch-princesses? And what does ‘Lodbrok,’ mean anyway? We’ll discuss the shows portrayal of one of Europe’s legendary leaders and compare it against the sources that exist for the real figure that served as the key figure the History Channel’s show.

We also take aim at our female lead, the mythical Lagertha! A legendary shield-maiden (were they even real?), Lagertha anchors much of the show’s 6 seasons and proves every bit the Viking hero of her husband and son. But was she real? Rollo the Walker, the inspiration for Ragnar’s brother is also discussed- we chart how you can go from dispossessed minor noble in Norway to founding a dynasty in France that would conquer Britain and Ireland, not to mention Sicily and Jerusalem!

Come join us and hear how the story ends with Harald Hardrada, the ‘Last Viking.’ England is invaded on two fronts and a fateful arrow to the eye changes history forever. It’s climatic battles, magic pants, a man who moves like a snake, fate, the gods and everything in between. It’s Vikings Part III. It’s Reel History.

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